Middle East latest: Israeli minister reports some progress toward cease-fire but Hezbollah unaware

Israel’s new foreign minister said Monday that there has been “certain progress” in efforts to end the fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah. But a spokesman for the militant group said it had not received any official proposal and was prepared to wage a long war if needed.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a cease-fire, and there were reports that U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein might return to the region in the coming days.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said any agreement would have to include enforcement mechanisms to prevent Hezbollah from reconstituting its military infrastructure near the border.

“There is certain progress on the issue. We are working with the Americans,” he told reporters.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Since the conflict erupted, more than 3,200 people have been killed and more than 14,000 wounded in Lebanon, the Health Ministry reported.

The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others. Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. The officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.

Here's the latest:

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. humanitarian office says 85% of its attempts to coordinate aid convoys and humanitarian visits to northern Gaza — where hunger is acute and Israel is carrying out a major offensive — were denied or impeded last month.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs made 98 requests to Israeli authorities for authorization to go through the checkpoint along Wadi Gaza but only 15 made it, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday.

The humanitarian office, known as OCHA, “is worried about the fate of Palestinians remaining in North Gaza, as the siege there continues, and urgently calls on Israel to open up the area to humanitarian operations at the scale needed, given the massive needs.” Dujarric said.

In a new report published Monday, OCHA said humanitarian organizations submitted 50 requests to the Israeli authorities to enter North Gaza governorate in October and 33 were rejected while eight were accepted but faced impediments including delays that prevented their completion, he said.

Over the past three days, Dujarric said, teams from OCHA, the U.N. human rights and de-mining agencies and other humanitarian groups visited nine sites in Gaza City to assess the needs of hundreds of displaced families, many from North Gaza.

The teams say that some were in shelters, abandoned homes, destroyed clinic and some were sleeping in the streets or open fields where they feared stray dogs at night, Dujarric said.

In a severely damaged structure, the team found more than a dozen families — including people with disabilities and some in urgent need of medical care — sheltering in the basement which had no electricity and was full of sewage, he said,.

“The assessment teams say that urgent assistance is needed, including medical treatment and essential medication,” Dujarric said. “Palestinians in Gaza city also need blankets, warm clothing, shoes, heaters, and fuel as winter approaches” as well as tarpaulins and flood-resistant tents.

WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top strategic adviser met with U.S. officials on Monday in Washington.

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer was meeting Monday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the State Department said. He also met White House senior advisers Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk at the White House, according to a U.S. official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said that Dermer is also expected to meet on Tuesday with national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Dermer is also expected to meet with Trump officials during his time in the U.S.

Earlier Monday, Israel’s new foreign minister told reporters there has been “certain progress” in cease-fire efforts with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Dermer is a close confidant of Netanyahu and last week traveled to Russia as part of cease-fire efforts, said an official familiar with the matter.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes diplomacy, said Dermer is trying to rally Russian support for enforcing a cease-fire by helping ensure that Iran will no longer smuggle weapons to Hezbollah through Syria, which is a Russian ally.

Aamer Madhani in Washington and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed.

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. peacekeeping chief is heading to Lebanon for a three-day visit to support peacekeepers on the front line monitoring the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict and to amplify U.N. calls for de-escalation and a cease-fire.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Monday that’s the message Undersecretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix will be delivering starting on Tuesday when he arrives in Lebanon.

In Beirut, Lacroix is scheduled to meet with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati; Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, the caretaker foreign and defense ministers, armed forces chief and the diplomatic corps, Dujarric said.

Lacroix is also scheduled to visit the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Naqoura in southern Lebanon and front-line positions along the U.N.-drawn boundary between Lebanon and Israel to meet peacekeepers and “thank them for their dedication in carrying out their work under extremely difficult conditions.” Dujarric said.

The force, known as UNIFIL, has continued to monitor the escalating conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah across the boundary known as the Blue Line despite Israeli calls for peacekeepers to pull back 5 kilometers (3 miles) for their safety. UNIFIL has accused Israel of deliberately destroying observation equipment, and a number of peacekeepers have been injured in the military action.

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike destroyed a home in northern Lebanon on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding 14 others, the Health Ministry said.

Rescue teams scrambled to pull survivors from under the rubble, Lebanon’s state media said, and video widely circulated on social media showed the Lebanese Red Cross moving corpses encased in body bags.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike and the target was not clear. The strike hit the village of Ain Yaaqoub in the northern Akkar region, which is home to Greek Orthodox and Sunni Muslim communities and is far from the Hezbollah militant group’s main areas of influence in the south and east.

Israel has struck deeper into Lebanon since its military escalation and ground invasion against Hezbollah in late September. Israel's first strike in the Akkar region was on Nov. 2 and targeted a bridge near a Lebanese army checkpoint, cutting a key road leading to Syria.

On Monday, another Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in southern Lebanon, killing seven people and wounding seven others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Israel's military said 190 rockets were fired from Lebanon on Monday, with rescue services saying at least five people were injured.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel’s finance minister says he will push for Israel to annex parts of the occupied West Bank after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Bezalel Smotrich said in a speech Monday that he will push “for the inclusion of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” using the biblical term for the territory. “2025 will be the year ... of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” he added.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has built scores of settlements to cement its control over the area. But it has never annexed the territory, which is home to 3 million Palestinians who live under military rule.

The Palestinians seek the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and Gaza, for an independent state.

The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements, where some 500,000 Israelis live, to be illegal and obstacles to peace.

Smotrich, along with other settler leaders, are counting on Trump to resume the pro-settler positions he took during his first term as president. During the first Trump administration, the U.S. reversed longstanding U.S. policy and said settlements do not violate international law. Trump's secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, made an unprecedented visit to a Jewish settlement.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Monday that 54 people were killed and 56 wounded on Sunday, raising the total toll from a year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 3,243 killed and 14,134 wounded.

One-quarter of them were women and children, the ministry said, with 2,325 men, 634 women and 201 children killed since the Israel-Hezbollah war began 13 months ago. Before the war intensified on Sept. 23, Hezbollah had said that nearly 500 of its members were killed but the group has stopped updating its death toll since.

On Monday, an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Al-Saksakiyeh town in Sidon province, South Lebanon, killed seven people and wounded seven others, the Health Ministry said.

Most of those casualties were women and children, Lebanon’s state media said, adding that rescue teams were still searching for more missing people under the rubble.

In the health care sector, the ministry said that 191 health workers have been killed, 308 wounded and 244 medical vehicles damaged since Oct. 8, 2023. Additionally, 88 medical and ambulatory centers have been affected, along with 65 hospitals.

TEL AVIV — Israel’s military said at least 190 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel on Monday, just as the country’s new foreign minister said efforts to reach a cease-fire deal with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah were moving forward.

At least 90 rockets were fired toward Haifa, one of the largest barrages towards the northern port city since the war began last year, according to Israeli media. Israel’s rescue services said four people were wounded in the area around Haifa, and another person earlier in the day.

Israel's military said most of the rockets were intercepted, without elaborating.

The volley came the same day Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said “certain progress” was being made toward a U.S.-brokered cease-fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The group's leader has said it had not received a proposal and is prepared to keep fighting.

Hezbollah did not immediately claim the volley on Monday evening, but said it was responsible for two rocket attacks in the afternoon it said targeted Israeli military bases near Haifa. Israel said its forces had targeted the Hezbollah launchers responsible for the attack.

Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s new foreign minister appeared to downplay a looming U.S. deadline for increased aid to Gaza, saying he was confident “the issue would be solved.”

The Biden administration warned Israel last month to increase the amount of food and other urgently needed aid entering Gaza to 350 trucks per day or risk a scaling back of American military support. It set a 30-day deadline that expires this week.

The amount of aid entering the war-ravaged territory plummeted in October to its lowest level since the first month of the war, with an average of 57 trucks entering each day, according to Israeli figures.

U.N. agencies say even less is actually being distributed because Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and lawlessness often prevent them from retrieving the aid on the Gaza side of the border.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Monday that he was “sure we can also reach understanding with our American friends and that issue will be solved.”

U.S. President Joe Biden may have less leverage over Israel as it awaits Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January.

Trump was a staunch supporter of Israel during his previous term. He has vowed to end the wars in the Middle East without saying how.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday called for an immediate cease-fire along the Lebanon-Israel border, saying the war has had devastating effects on the small nation.

Mikati called for the implementation of a U.N. resolution that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war in the summer of 2006, and the deployment of Lebanese troops along the border with Israel in coordination with U.N. peacekeepers.

Mikati spoke at the opening session of the Arab-Islamic summit in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. He said the war has caused “unprecedented losses” with more than 3,000 people dead, including 775 women and children.

He said the war also had caused $8.5 billion in losses, including $3.4 billion caused by the destruction or damage of about 100,000 housing units in different parts of the country.

“No state can take the burden of this huge destruction,” Mikati said, adding that Beirut is about to set up a fund that will be funded by friendly states for the reconstruction process. He said the fund will be under international supervision and subject to international auditing.

Mikati urged other nations to support the Lebanese state rather than the country’s political factions.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia on Monday hosted a summit over the ongoing Mideast wars.

Speaking before leaders, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the kingdom renewed “its condemnation and categorical rejection of the genocide committed by Israel against the brotherly Palestinian people, which has claimed the lives of 150,000 martyrs, wounded and missing, most of whom are women and children.”

“We affirm that Israel’s continued crimes against innocent people, its persistence in violating the sanctity of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and its detraction from the pivotal role of the Palestinian National Authority in all Palestinian territories will undermine the efforts aimed at obtaining the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights and establishing peace in the region,” he added.

The summit is a follow-up from the 2023 Arab-Islamic Summit.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s new foreign minister says there has been “certain progress” in efforts to end the fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

But a spokesman for the militant group said Monday that it had not received any official proposal and was prepared to wage a long war if needed.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a cease-fire, and there were reports that U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein might return to the region in the coming days.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said any agreement would have to include enforcement mechanisms to prevent Hezbollah from reconstituting its military infrastructure near the border.

“There is certain progress on the issue. We are working with the Americans,” he told reporters.

“The most important thing will not (be) the words but the enforcement,” he said, adding that if any agreement is breached, Israel “will act immediately, militarily.”

The U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war required both Hezbollah and Israeli forces to withdraw from a buffer zone in southern Lebanon that was to be patrolled by U.N. peacekeepers and the Lebanese army.

Israel says Hezbollah maintained a military presence right up to the border, while Lebanon accused Israel of violating other terms of the resolution. Lebanese officials are opposed to any changes to the resolution.

In Beirut, Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif said the group has enough weapons and supplies to fight a long war with Israel. He said Israeli forces had failed to hold territory six weeks into their ground invasion, pointing to what he said was a failed Israeli attempt last week to enter the southern town of Khiyam.

“As long as you are not able to control areas in the field you will not achieve your political goals,” Afif said.

He also denied claims by Israeli officials that Hezbollah has lost most of its missile capabilities, pointing to the fact that it is still launching dozens of projectiles a day and targeting areas in central Israel.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel, and drawing retaliatory strikes, the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. All-out war erupted in September, when Israel carried out a wave of heavy airstrikes and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders.

DAMASCUS, Syria — Israel’s air force attacked an aid convoy and forced the closure of Syria’s main north-south highway, Syria state media reported.

There was no immediate word on casualties from Monday’s strike, and state TV did not provide details about the convoy.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria in recent years. Israeli officials rarely acknowledge them, but say Israel is determined to disrupt arms shipments to Lebanon’s Hezbollah and to prevent Iran from developing military infrastructure near its borders.

Monday’s airstrike occurred in Shamsin, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the border with Lebanon. People often gather there after fleeing the war, state TV said.

It said the strike forced the closure of the M5 highway that links the capital, Damascus, with the northern city of Aleppo.

On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab. The Syrian Defense Ministry said seven civilians were killed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor linked to the Syrian opposition, suggested that Hezbollah was targeted.

BEIRUT — The United Nations children’s agency says the war between Israel and Hezbollah has killed more than 200 children in Lebanon.

They include seven children who were among 23 people killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Lebanon on Sunday.

UNICEF said protecting children from harm during war is a legal obligation and called for a cease-fire.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says at least 3,189 people have been killed and over 14,000 wounded in Lebanon in more than a year of conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. Some 1.2 million people have been displaced.

On the Israeli side, 68 soldiers and 41 civilians have been killed in the fighting since October 2023, according to the prime minister’s office. More than 60,000 people have been displaced from their homes.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel, and drawing retaliatory strikes, the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies backed by Iran.

Hezbollah acknowledged the killing of nearly 500 of its fighters in the first 11 months of the conflict but stopped updating that toll after all-out war erupted in September.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Monday claimed they launched a missile targeting Israel.

Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree made the claim in a prerecorded video message, claiming that the rebels launched a Palestine-2 ballistic missile he described as a “hypersonic” toward a military base.

The Israeli military said it “intercepted one projectile that approached Israel from the direction of Yemen.” The Israelis also said the fire did not enter Israeli territory.

The Houthis have launched missiles and targeted ships through the Red Sea corridor over the ongoing Mideast wars. The rebels separately said sites in the country came under attack in likely U.S. airstrikes early Monday morning, something not immediately acknowledged by the Americans.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A senior diplomat for the United Arab Emirates called on the world to focus on the plight of civilians and de-escalate the ongoing Mideast wars.

Anwar Gargash’s remarks Monday, made at the Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate, followed the pattern of comments made by the UAE amid the Mideast wars. The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms home to Dubai, diplomatically recognized Israel in 2020.

“The complexities of the region require a steady hand and a clear and consistent vision,” Gargash said. “The recent cycle of escalation between Israel and Iran cannot become a permanent feature of the strategic landscape of our region. This must be addressed through a political framework.”

He called for “pragmatism” and a “serious political horizon” to resolve the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reach a two-state solution. He described the war in the Gaza Strip as being “driven by extremists on both sides, from the Israeli and Arab side.” Yet he also called the “systemic violence” faced by Palestinians in Gaza “criminal and unacceptable.”

He added: “At the present time, it is vital to identify that not all crises stem from the Palestinian issue, yet it undeniably remains central to the conflict in our region.”

The UAE has provided aid for both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in the wars, while maintaining its diplomatic ties with Israel. The UAE has, however, strenuously criticized Israel’s conduct at times in public in the wars.

Gargash also offered criticism of governance in both the Palestinian territories and Lebanon.

“In both Palestine and Lebanon, a drastic reform is essential for the world to step in and provide considerable support,” Gargash said.

For more Middle East news: https://apnews.com/hub/middle-east

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit Kiryat Ata, northern Israel, on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit Kiryat Ata, northern Israel, on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Ivana Skakye, 2, a Lebanese child who is suffering from third-degree burns over 40 percent of her body following an Israeli airstrike last September near their home in Deir Qanoun al Nahr, a village in south Lebanon, raises her burned arms as she lies on a bed at the Geitaoui hospital where she is receiving treatment, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A woman stands in front of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Residents stand on their apartment balcony at a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Children sit in a car as they wait their parents, who are collecting belongings from their house, which was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A man walks on the rubble of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A man carries a safe box after he pulls it out of a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A man holds up a portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini under a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Two men ride a scooter past a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A woman sits on the rubble as she looks to a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Hezbollah's chief spokesman Mohammed Afif speaks during a press conference in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Rescue workers search for victims under the rubble of a destroyed house hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Aalmat village, northern Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Two boys observe the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Aalmat village, northern Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Palestinian citizens of Israel protest against Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, in Umm Al-Fahm, Israel, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian citizens of Israel protest against Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, in Umm Al-Fahm, Israel, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

People protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, marking 400 days since their capture. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Rescue workers use excavators to remove the rubble of a destroyed house hit in an Israeli airstrike, as they search for victims in Aalmat village, northern Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Palestinian citizens of Israel protest against Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, in Umm Al-Fahm, Israel, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. The placard in Arabic reads: " the war of extermination in Palestine and Lebanon - read more about this topic." (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will nominate Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general, putting a loyalist in the role of the nation's top prosecutor.

In selecting the congressman, Trump passed over some of the more established attorneys whose names had been mentioned as being contenders for the job.

“Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” Trump said in a statement.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress and presidential candidate, to serve as director of national intelligence, continuing to stock his Cabinet with loyal personalities complimentary to his own, rather than long-term professionals in their requisite fields.

“As a former Candidate for the Democrat Presidential Nomination, she has broad support in both Parties - She is now a proud Republican!” Trump said in a statement. “I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength. Tulsi will make us all proud!”

Gabbard, who has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades, deploying to Iraq and Kuwait, would come to the role as somewhat of an outsider, compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, was confirmed by the Senate in 2021 following several years in a number of top national security and intelligence positions.

Gabbard hasn’t worked directly in the intelligence community, outside of House committees, including two years on the Homeland Security Committee. Like others Trump has selected for his agency leadership, she has been among his most popular political surrogates, often drawing thunderous responses from crowds as she stumped for him in the campaign’s closing months.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump named Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as his nominee for secretary of state on Wednesday, setting up a onetime critic who evolved into one of the president-elect’s fiercest defenders to become the nation’s top diplomat.

The conservative lawmaker is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump’s running mate this summer.

On Capitol Hill, Rubio is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has pushed for taking a harder line against China and has targeted social media app TikTok because its parent company is Chinese. He and other lawmakers contend that Beijing could demand access to the data of users whenever it wants.

“He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said of Rubio in a statement.

Trump made the announcement while flying back back to Florida from Washington after meeting with President Joe Biden.

The selection is the culmination of a long, complicated history between the two men. During their tense competition for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, Rubio was especially blunt in his criticism of Trump, calling him a “con artist” and “the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency.”

He tried to match Trump’s often-crude attacks by joking about the size of Trump’s hands in a reference to his manhood. Trump responded by branding Rubio as “little Marco,” a nickname that stuck with the senator for years.

But like many Republicans who sought to maintain their relevance in the Trump era, Rubio shifted his rhetoric. As speculation intensified that Trump might pick him as his running mate, Rubio sought to play down the tension from 2016, suggesting the heated tone simply reflected the intensity of a campaign.

“That is like asking a boxer why they punched somebody in the face in the third round,” Rubio told CNN when asked about his previous comments. “It’s because they were boxing.”

Rubio was first elected to the Senate in 2010 as part of the tea party wave of Republicans who swept into Washington. He quickly gained a reputation as someone who could embody a more diverse, welcoming Republican Party. He was a key member of a group that worked on a 2013 immigration bill that included a path to citizenship for millions of people in the country illegally.

But that legislation stalled in the House, where more conservative Republicans were in control, signaling the sharp turn to the right that the party — and Rubio — would soon embrace. Now, Rubio says he supports Trump’s plan to deploy the U.S. military to deport those in the country illegally.

“We are going to have to do something, unfortunately, we’re going to have to do something dramatic,” Rubio said in a May interview with NBC.

He also echoes many of Trump’s attacks on his opponents as well as his false or unproven theories about voter fraud. After Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in what New York prosecutors charged was a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election, Rubio wrote a column for Newsweek saying Trump had “been held hostage” in court for “a sham political show trial like the ones Communists used against their political opponents in Cuba and the Soviet Union.”

Trump, meanwhile, has backed off his insistence while president that TikTok be banned in the United States, and he recently opened his own account on the platform.

A bill that would require the Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban in the United States was supported by Rubio even as Trump voiced opposition to the effort.

Rubio's Democratic counterpart on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Chairman Mark Warner of Virginia, praised the pick.

“I have worked with Marco Rubio for more than a decade on the Intelligence Committee, particularly closely in the last couple of years in his role as Vice Chairman, and while we don’t always agree, he is smart, talented, and will be a strong voice for American interests around the globe," Warner said in a statement.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump announced that longtime aide Dan Scavino will serve as a deputy without giving a specific portfolio, campaign political director James Blair as deputy for legislative, political and public affairs, and Taylor Budowich as deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel. All will have the rank of assistant to the president.

Trump also formally announced Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner, will be deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser. That had previously been confirmed by Vice President-elect JD Vance on Monday.

Blair was the political director for Trump’s campaign and, once Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee, the political director for the Republican National Committee. He previously worked on Trump's 2020 campaign in Florida and was a top aide for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Scavino was a senior adviser on Trump’s campaign and, in his first term in the White House, he worked as a social media director.

He began working for Trump as a caddy at one of Trump’s golf courses, and was part of the small group of staffers who traveled with the president across the country for the entirety of the campaign. He frequently posts memes and videos of Trump's campaign travel online, cataloguing the campaign from the inside on social media.

Before joining the campaign, Budowich worked for the pro-Trump Super PAC, Maga Inc., and after Trump left office, Budowich served as his spokesman while working for Trump's political action committee, Save America.

“Dan, Stephen, James, and Taylor were ‘best in class’ advisors on my winning campaign, and I know they will honorably serve the American people in the White House,” Trump said in a statement. “They will continue to work hard to Make America Great Again in their respective new roles.”

Miller is one of Trump’s longest-serving aides, dating back to his first campaign for the White House. He was a senior adviser in Trump’s first term and has been a central figure in many of his policy decisions, particularly on immigration, including Trump’s move to separate thousands of immigrant families as a deterrence program in 2018.

—

Colvin reported from New York and Miller reported from Washington.

FILE - Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., smiles as he addresses supporters Nov. 8, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

Tulsi Gabbard arrives before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Pittsburgh, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE - Stephen Miller arrives before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Allentown, Pa., Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

FILE - Stephen Miller arrives before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)